Student commentary on current research in the neurological sciences.

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Neurochemistry vs. Student Teaching

You could say I am lucky enough to have the experience of two capstones for my undergraduate degree. Officially as a chemistry education major student teaching is my capstone, but neurochemistry sounded so good I couldn’t pass it up. It is nice to have student teaching count as a capstone for teachers because our majors are filled to the brim. Yet I feel that for secondary education majors, it is a great benefit for them to take the capstone of the field. I think neurochemistry is able to show the true relevance of chemistry in the world today. There are infinite doors that can be unlocked by the understanding of neurochemistry. I am glad that I have gotten a foundational knowledge in neurochemistry. I feel that in the next few years the field will explode, it will be interesting to see the discoveries that are made and the debates they will fuel.

I am also excited to see how I can incorporate what I have learned and bring it to my own students. I mean I know I can’t get down to the individual pathways with them (which is okay because I am sure I won’t remember most of them), but I am hoping that I can use the foundational knowledge that I have acquired and use it to show my students just how important chemistry is in this world. I think neurochemistry can truly show students just how far a knowledge of chemistry can take them. And this is truly one of my goals in life, I believe that it is possible to get any high school student to be interested in chemistry, you just have to show them the right information in the right way. So many high school students are board out of there mind in chemistry class, and by no means is it their fault. I have watched too many teachers talk on and on and on about this subject without giving any rational to why the students should learn the subject. For every lesson plan teachers Teachers are suppose to create a rational that they can explain why students need to know the topic. Yet so many teachers are focusing on that specific topic, or on state standards that they forget to give the rational for their entire coarse. As a future teacher I find this so concerning, I plan to take the first two days off from chemistry content. The first day I want to talk the rational of getting an education with my students, because I believe so many of them are just as caught up in the systems rut as the teachers are. The second day would be a rational for chemistry, I want to create a very discussion based class period in which I can hopefully open there eyes to what chemistry can do for them. And I can promise that neurochemistry will be part of that disscussion.